US campaign finance disclosures show that political campaigns are increasingly paying for AI tools, despite candidates saying little publicly about their use. Since 2020, federal candidates and campaigns have reported at least $17m in spending with AI vendors, across 523 campaigns; the issue may be politically sensitive, as a 2025 Pew survey found more than 70% of Americans would think less of a candidate who used AI to help write a speech.

The disclosures show different patterns among technology providers. Since 2024, at least 80 federal campaigns and committees reported about $50,000 in spending with OpenAI, while at least 65 reported paying Anthropic in 2026, with nearly twice as many Democrats as Republicans; campaigns usually reported using one service or the other. Spending on xAI was much smaller, at about $5,000 across seven federal and two state-level campaigns or committees. Political-specific tools have attracted more money: messaging service AmplifAI received $4.7m in the 2022 cycle, while Democratic-focused Daisychain had about $300,000 in reported candidate spending in the 2026 cycle, up from roughly $50,000 in 2024.